Cracking the Mutant Mind
by MsLightningAlchemist
Summary: When an experiment escapes and witnesses a crime by a serial killer, of course they're taken in as a witness. But when the BAU is called in and can't find anything about this witness, they dive into something they never thought that existed. T for language.
1. Chapter 1

It had been a few hours since I had seen any Erasers. This city was large and smelly, but at least I was finally free!

I ducked into an alley, exhausted from all the running. At least I might have enough time to explain things.

For as long as I can remember, I've been nothing but a test subject. I was nothing but an animal to the scientists. They did horrible things to the animals and kids who were the guinea pigs. From mixing cat and dog DNA to grafting DNA onto infants, toddlers, and kids, they were monsters.

The mutations they did to anyone and anything they got their bloodied hands on were beyond cruel. A few examples would be running from hours on end, pull weights that get heavier until they couldn't move them anymore, run pointless blood tests, and measure endurance and fighting skills.

The Erasers I mentioned are not the things that make pencil lines disappear. They're poor infants who have wolf DNA grafted into theirs. They're the guard dogs, strong and big, with quick reflexes.

These infants grow to adult size and intelligence by the time they turn one. They last a few years until their genes clash with one another, and they die from the impact. That's the best I know from what I've seen.

They look like supermodels when they're not morphed, that is. Their morphed form is all furry, with snouts and teeth and claws. They have a tendency to move and hunt in packs, which isn't easy when you're alone.

* * *

The sound of running woke me from my semi-conscious state. I peaked up from the clothes dumpster I was hiding in, watching as a woman skidded to a halt in front of the dead end. She swore, looking around frantically.

"Are you done running now?" This voice was male, with a sadistic smile I knew from the sixteen long years I was tortured. "Can I cut you up?"

"What do you want with me?" the woman asked.

"Why, to see how loud you'll scream as I slowly kill you." Yes, he was as bad as the scientists. I covered myself with the clothes, trying to block out the sounds. I hated this, feeling the life of someone slip from their body ... It was a horrible oily feeling. It's almost like a snake slithering across your hand, but on a spirit level.

I felt another life slip by, and I was suddenly grateful that I was in the dumpster, so the police wouldn't see me. I quickly changed out of my torn and ratty experimentee clothes and into something that fit me at least decently and didn't smell too badly. I figured that I was in a dumpster that belonged to a secondhand store.

It was a while before anyone came to the alley. I came to regret my decision to hide in the dumpster, because the second they lifted the lid and pulled me out.

"Let me go!" I snarled. Since they had me by my arm, I kicked them in the shin. I heard a sharp crack, but I knew I hadn't broken a bone. I yanked my arm free, hearing the click of guns.

I was blocked in. The alleyway was too narrow to open my wings and fly away. Yes, I have wings. They grafted the DNA of a black billed magpie into mine.

"FBI! Put your hands up where we can see them!" one of my captors demanded.

I understood perfectly. This was a crime scene by a serial killer. I sighed and looked at who I assumed to be their leader. "I didn't see anything, but I did hear two voices. I can assume that the woman was this guy's latest victim." I did a quick glance around, but I was cornered. "This killer is male, sadistic, and wants to 'see how loudly you scream as I slowly kill you'." I made little finger quotes around his words as I repeated them.

"Can you tell us anything else?" the dark-skinned man asked.

"Sorry, but I can't. I didn't look out or anything. Sorry." I shrugged and attempted to walk past them, only to hear a gunshot and a sharp pain up my leg an instant later. My leg buckled, and I went crashing down like a sack of bricks. "Dammit! What the Hell was that for, you jerkwads?!" I snarled, glaring up at them.

"You're the only person here, with a witness to the crime. We're going to have to take you in." Their leader turned around. "Morgan, Reid, take her into custody. We'll interrogate her as soon as we get to the station."

The two men grabbed my arms, startled by how light I was. "Do you eat much?" the younger, less muscular one asked. "You're awfully light."

"I eat more than any of you could imagine."I was escorted into the backseat of the car, where I was made into a mutant sandwich between two humans. "Oh, I really don't have an eating disorder."

"I'm finding that hard to believe." The skinny guy said.

_If they ever knew, there goes any hope of living a semi-normal life._ I sighed. "So, how long does this thing usually take?"

"It depends if you can answer our questions or not." The tone of the muscular guy made the conversation final.

I groaned mentally. This was going to be a long Q&A session.


	2. Chapter 2

I stayed quiet for a while, and I was fine with that. There was no way I was going to get all fuzzy and spill my guts to these killer-chasers. So I sat in the interrogation room, staring at the one-way glass.

An almost-normal female stared back at me. Her auburn hair was a mess, long and matted. Her eyes had a slightly haunted look, well-hidden under her calm mask. Her clothes were stained and well-used, with holes in them. She looked like she could pass as an eighteen year-old, but I knew about how old she really was.

I smirked slightly, and the female smirked back. Of course, they'd probably freak when they couldn't find any data on me. But maybe, just maybe, they could access the lab's files. Maybe they could stop the scientists.

It was nothing more than a dream, of course. There was no way anybody would find anything about the lab.

Ignoring my dying whale of a stomach, I put my head down on the desk. I was unbelievably tired. _I'm too tired ... I'll just get a few minutes of sleep, and maybe they'll come in with food._

* * *

"Something doesn't seem right about her. For one, she's extremely light and thin." Morgan crossed his arms, staring at the sleeping girl in the room.

"I think she could have an eating disorder. Perhaps she's anorexic? She said that she eats a lot." Reid looked around the group.

"We won't know until we ask her questions. I want her fingerprinted, and Garcia will run a search for her when she tells us her name." Hotch glanced at the injured girl. He didn't mean to hurt her, but she had the potential to be their unsub. "I want her leg treated as soon as we can."

"We can't do much until she's conscious again," Prentiss sighed. "Maybe we should go in and interrogate her."

"Maybe we should offer her something to eat. She did say she tends to eat a lot." Reid looked at Morgan.

"If she asks, maybe we'll get something." Morgan shrugged.

* * *

I jolted awake when the door opened. I panicked for a second until I realized I was with the FBI. Looking at the person who had cut my nap short, I yawned. "Oh, joy," I said with mock enthusiasm. "Question time, or are you going to take my fingerprints?"

The blonde woman gave me a firm gaze, and I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at her. She set a couple papers and an inkpad down on the table. I noticed the lack of scientist-y aura around her. Maybe she was good. And maybe I wasn't a mutant.

Once she had my fingerprints, I sighed. "What, no questions? Oh, joy! Can I go now? At the very least, could uncuff me? Please?" I gave her my best pouty look ... which didn't work. She just left the room again. I groaned and put my head back on the table. Fine. I'll just break the cuffs and then what? I couldn't go very far on this leg ...

How was I supposed to take care of my mission? They promised me ... if I killed the ones I was sent out to ... they'd let me go ...

"Damn ..." I breathed. "I just want to be free ..."

"Free from what?"

I jumped and sat up again. "Oh, whatcha need, Mr. Calm? Something gone wrong?" I feigned confusion.

"You don't exist in any database we can access." The leader of the group said. He was taller than the others, had short black hair, and dark eyes.

"Because I'm a figment of your imagination." I grinned. "So, what do you want now?"

"Who are you, really?" he asked.

I beamed. "Oh, I'm so glad someone finally asked! I'm Bonnie Wright, born on August second, 1982." I stole one of the scientists' information. Of course, It was mostly a mish-mash, but at least it was believeable!

"We all know that's not true," Mr. Calm said.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I don't have a given name. I grew up in a dog crate for sixteen years." I gave him a glare. "Do you believe that, Mr. Calm?"

"First off, it's Agent Hotchner. Second, there's no way that could be true. There are many labs in the United States, and there are none that use children as test subjects." Mr. Calm, now Agent Hotchner, gave me a cold stare.

"Believe it. There are underground labs, stealing infants and using them as rats. To them, anything they can get their hands on is fair game. Animals, humans, it doesn't matter to them." I tried to cross my arms, only half-succeeding. "Now, will you please let me go? The only crime I've done is probably fighting other mutants, only to survive."

Agent Hotchner was silent for a while. "What was the lab you grew up in?" he asked. "The name."

"How the hell should I know? All I know is that's in the middle of nowhere, deep in a mountain range." I cursed myself mentally. When they found out about this ... There goes my freedom. "I've said more than you need to know. What do you want to know besides my godforsaken past?"

"How did you get here?" he asked. "To Salt Lake City?"

I shifted uncomfrotably. My wings were starting to ache. And my leg was burning. "I used my ... abilities." I tried to ease some of the aching. "Will you please uncuff me? I'm not going to hurt you ... like I did to Baldy. Has he gotten his leg looked at yet?"

"That would be Agent Morgan. And he's getting it looked at as we speak." Agent Hotchner gave me a well-hidden look of surprise.

"Then why don't you tell me the rest of your team? The blonde one who took the fingerprints? Or the brunette who looks like she's newer to your team? Oh, how about Mr. Chatty?" I grinned at the nickname I gave the skinny one. "You know, Agent Morgan's buddy ... the youngest-looking of the group?"

"Why are you so interested in our names?" Agent Hotchner asked.

"You would be, too ... if you didn't have one of your own ..." I mumbled, looking down at my lap. "I was only called by a number ... I've never been called anything else but ... Subject 26. I don't even know ... if I have parents ..."

"We'll see if we can try to find the lab you came from. Any records of any children taken from their parents at a young age. After we finish this case." Agent Hotchner stood and turned his back to me.

"Go get him and make him pay." I watched him close the door.

* * *

"Another victim, a block down on the corner of the street. That's three now." Hotch put another picture up of the latest victim, who had blonde hair and blue eyes. "Ami Sivertson, Age 27, single."

"Do you guys see this? They're all late twenties, single ... They all died within a half hour when they were last seen. What if our unsub is a single man, who's probably good-looking to lure them to where he kills them?" Reid frowned as he stared at the and the map.

"Look at this." Prentiss pointed out the locations of the dump sites. "They're all behind some bar or tattoo parlor ... Somewhere they'd never hang out because of their religion, close by the place they were last seen."

The room fell silent as they thought of why the unsub would do that.

"He could be a former member of that group, who doesn't go there anymore because of what he did?" Hotch suggested. "Then he must be doing this because he wants them to suffer like he did. Garcia."

"Yes, sir?" the voice on speaker phone asked.

"Do any of the places have surveillance cameras?"

There was a moment's pause. "Yes. The second place had a camera in back. I'm pulling up the time on the video right now ... and ... Oh, oh no ..."

"Did something happen, Garcia?" Reid asked.

"Someone ran in, spent some time, then hid in a dumpster in the corner as Roberta comes running in, and I got him. Pulling up files on ... His name is Ramon Perez. Age twenty nine, lives in an apartment building and I'm sending you the coordinates and information right now."

"Thank you, Garcia."

"Sir, what about the person who hid in the dumpster?"

"We found her and questioned her. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the meantime, I want you to see if there are any missing children cases anywhere from fifteen to twenty years ago."

"I'm on it, sir."

* * *

**I could have ended it here, but I figured everyone loves to know what the other side is doing, and dying to know what that mission is.**

* * *

"She had better hurry up and do her job." The man staring at the screens was scowling with annoyance. He could see every one of the people on his list. But there was no way he could reveal what his intentions were.

She had the perfect chance to take them all out when they first discovered her! And she had let it pass by as if it were nothing!

The desk shook as he slammed his fist onto the keyboard. "What are you waiting for?! Just kill them already! Take out their souls, do what I made you for!"

His glasses glared in the glow of the screens.


	3. Chapter 3

"Good news. We caught the killer."

I smirked. "Then can I go now? These handcuffs are really starting to annoy me. This is, what, the third pair?" I grinned, since I had broken quite a few, trying to break out.

"Fifth. I still can't understand how you keep breaking them." Reid was watching me like a hawk. Almost.

"I'm not what I look like." I snickered and stretched, glad to be free from the handcuffs Agent Hotchner had taken. "So, am I free to go?"

Agent Hotchner gave me a stone-cold glare. "Since we have no data or information on you, besides being a test subject, you're going to have to stay with us until we can find someone who's willing to be your guardian."

"Teach me how to fight." I blinked, surprised at myself. Where did that come from? All the skills I had were only from self-preservation against Erasers. "Please?"

The agents stared at me like I had grown wings. Oh, wait ... I already have wings. Okay, they were staring at me like I was crazy. I shifted uncomfortably. "The only self-defense I know is what I taught myself, you see. What if they send ... er, their attack mutants out to get me? What if they hurt innocent people?"

"What kind of mutants?" Agent Hotchner asked as I stepped into their 'thinking' room.

I stiffened at the images on the board. Five missing children were staring back at me, along with pictures of scientists and half-morphed Erasers. "What ... is all this?" I asked. "Children, Scientists, blurry photos of mutants ... You're with them, aren't you?!" I whipped around, my hands curling into fists.

They had their hands on their guns, ready to draw. "No, these are all the files we have on everything we know about the underground science labs." Reid tried to reassure me.

I relaxed, keeping a wary eye on them. "What now? These are all scientists." I motioned to the photos of the known scientists, "and these are the mutants I was talking about." I gestured to the blurry photos.

"I've pulled up the information you wanted, sir."

I jumped, looking around for the source of the voice. My eyes settled on the phone in the middle of the table. "Oh, speaker phone? Cool. But what about this information? Are you going to search me for something that's identifiable, such as a birthmark or scar?" I backed up as they raised an eyebrow at me. "What? I didn't think you'd actually do that!"

"Will you please follow me?" Agent Jareu asked. She started toward the door, away from the room I was in for about a half-day. I followed her down the hall, being followed by Agent Prentiss.

I was glad they were women, but what reaction would I get once they saw the wings? I followed Agent Jareu into another room, without any windows. The only entrance or exit was the door, which Agent Prentiss locked behind her. My fight or flight instincts kicked in.

As I reached for my shirt with trembling hands, I tried to make eye contact with the two. "Promise me you won't freak out about the results of the experiments they ran ... okay?" I pulled the shirt over my head, casting it to the side.

I could hear a shocked gasp from Agent Prentiss. Agent Jareu looked over to see what had caused her fellow agent to take a step back. I started to reach for the shirt I had cast aside, but I felt a hand on my arm, stopping me. "Wait. We still need to ... you know." Agent Jareu gave me a warm smile.

A hand carefully stroked my wing. I slowly extended it, my muscles voicing their disapproval at being tense for so long.

"These are real, right?" Agent Prentiss asked. "I thought they would be next to your shoulders, not below the scapula."

"Can you really fly with them?" Agent Jareu asked. "Reid and Morgan said you're light, so are your bones hollow, like a bird's?"

"Yes, they're real, I can fly with them, and my bones are hollow." I swallowed, glancing at the door.

A finger ran across my lower right side, close to my spine. I had seen a segment of some blotch there, trying to look at my wings one day. I had never figured out where it had come from, so I figured it was just a scar from when they injected the bird DNA into me.

"I think that'll do. Do you know if you have any others?" Agent Prentiss asked.

"Just nasty scars from needles, but isn't that to be expected? They always kept me sedated, because of ... er ... I'd rather not say right now." I started for the shirt again, but Agent Jareu handed me a change of clothes.

"You don't have to wear those dumpster scraps anymore." Agent Jareu gave me another smile.

I quickly changed into the shirt and jeans, then followed the agents back to the room.

"Garcia, does any of the children have a tan blotch on their back, by the spine?" Agent Prentiss asked as we came back in.

"Yes, that would be little Ray Fletcher ... but any relatives are either dead or in jail for life. Father is unknown, and mom was a major druggie, died of an overdose." I could hear tapping on Garcia's end of the line.

"Well, I think we found her. She has the same birthmark, and-"

I interrupted Agent Morgan. "How do you know that's who I am?" I asked. "I could be a clone, or they could have grafted that skin onto mine."

"No, you're the real deal. I found your birth certificate, and the fingerprints match. There are just a couple minor differences, but that's to be expected. It has been fourteen long years since you vanished." The voice on the phone startled me again.

I nodded slowly, still doubtful. "What are you going to do with me now? Go back to your base and leave me to fend for myself here? Or dump me into a foster home?

"We're going to see if we can allow you to travel with us until we can find a foster home. We may not find one before 11 months, which would mean you're a legal adult by then." Agent Hotchner watched my reaction to this information.

"Then where is your base? Washington D.C.?"

"Quantico, Virgina."

* * *

**A/N: I updated on Friday, not Sunday! Consider it a treat from me.**

**As someone asked me in a review, there will probably not be any OC pairings. All that I will imply is Morgan's relationship with Garcia.**

**Please R&R, or send me a message!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Come on. I'll pick you up and drag you if I have to."

I rolled my eyes and took another step back from Agent Morgan. "Nah. I've got my own way to travel." I glanced up at the plane with a smirk, hoping to see their reactions. Rolling my shoulders, I unfurled the twelve-foot black and white feathery mass that I proudly called my wings. I tried to take good care of them, since they were mine. I hated them at first, but I grew to love and care for them.

"Can you really fly with those? How do you get airborne?" Reid asked, and I could see more questions in his eyes.

"I'd like to actually see you go airborne with those," Agent Prentiss said.

Agent Hotchner was as silent as ever, while Agent Jareu gave me a faint nod. With a smirk, I ran about twenty feet, gathering wind in my wings, and I flew up with ease.

I hovered for a few seconds before dropping down again. "Well? I can fly, but I never really got the chance to see how far I can go before I need to stop. I-" My stomach growled loudly. With a nervous attempt at a laugh, I asked, "Can I have something to eat now?"

* * *

Once I had something in my tank, the agents boarded their jet and I stretched as the jet took off. Before I took off, I felt hostile people enter my range. Erasers.

I tensed and surveyed the runway, watching the six of them come out towards me, protecting someone in the middle.

"Why haven't you killed them yet, 26?"

I had to force down the panic rising in my throat. "I haven't had a good time or place yet. You wanted it to look like a killer, right?"

He stepped forward, something in his hand. "Yes, and you had the chance with Jerry. Now I have to send out Sofia, because of your mistake."

Sofia ... the woman was beyond mad. She loved to kill anything she got her hands on. With electricity and knives. I shuddered.

"Or would you like me to put you back in the labs?"

"I'll do it, and soon. I promise." I was trying to hide my trembling hands. I couldn't kill them ... not now. They had been kind to me.

"Do your best, 26. After all, this is what you were designed to do."

* * *

Looking back, I should have gone with them. It took me a good day to get to Quantico, and another hour to run into (literally) one of the Agents.

"Sorry. I'm new to the ci-oh! Hey there. I wish I had gotten a phone number or matches or something. Some way to contact you. That jet of yours moves fast ... Too fast." I chuckled nervously.

"Good thing you found me, then." Agent Hotchner led me to a building with a lot of people in it. He knocked on a door and opened it. A blonde woman with glasses turned around and looked at us.

She looked like she didn't belong in front of a computer screen. Her desk was littered with stuffed animals and knick-knacks. "Oh, you're Ray, aren't you? Here, I thought you'd like it."

I stared at the stuffed animal, unsure if this was just a joke or- "Thanks." I grabbed it, startled at how soft it was. I had never held anything like this before. Heck, the only thing I ever held was mutant flesh. "And you're ... oh, you must be Garcia."

"The one and only. Sir, I can keep an eye on her if you'd like." Garcia watched as Agent Hotchner left. "Well, welcome to my home away from home."

I was staring at the stuffed animals. "Uh ... It's not like the others' spaces at all ... I thought it'd be less inviting. What's with all these objects?"

"Some cases we get are too much for me, so I try to distance myself as much as I can. Which is why-" She gestured to the stuffed animal in my hands, "I have these around."

I stared at the toy in my hands, then looked up at her. "I couldn't take this one from you ... honestly!" I shook my head, starting to try to give it back to her. She stopped me, giving me a kind look.

"It's all right. I got that just for you. JJ told me that you're part bird, right?" She smiled as I nodded. "So I thought you'd like it. Did you ever have any toys where you grew up?"

I stared at the bird, shaking my head. My throat was getting uncomfortable and tight, and my eyes were burning. What was going on? Were my genes clashing? Was I dying?!

Something wet dropped onto my hand, followed by another. I panicked, biting my lip. What was going on? I was leaking! Something soft brushed my cheek, catching another drop of the liquid. "Need a tissue?" Garcia offered me a box of tissues.

I took one, wiping my eyes. "I'm leaking ... from my eyes ..." I sniffed.

"You're crying. I guess you never did have toys, huh?" Garcia gave me a pitying look. "And you never cried, did you?"

"No ... this is all so ... I never could show any emotions. I ... If I did ..." I trailed off, remembering the things they'd do to me. "Never mind that. How'd you find out all that information about me?"

"I'm an FBI Agent who can hack into anything." Garcia turned back to her computer and pulled up something. I watched as all the records they had on Ray Fletcher came up after she typed my name. Birth certificate, missing child reports, even a sketch of what I should probably look like by now.

"Do I really look like that?" I grimaced. That picture made me look like a fat kid. Well, less mutated and more ... normal.

"Well, I think after we go shopping and get you a total makeover, you'll look more human. Less like an escapee from a- oh ..." She trailed off, realizing what she had been about to say.

"Thanks. I was hoping I'd get to go out sometime." I faked a smile at her. Honestly, I would have probably found a pair of scissors and hacked my hair off. "I hate long hair, and I have no clue how to clean it properly. All those jerkwads would do is just blast me with water about two weeks apart."

Garcia gave me a surprised look. "You really did grow up in a bad place, huh?"

"If anyone got lucky, they'd die." I shuddered, remembering all those lives, just slipping one after another ... All while I was sedated to the point that I couldn't use my talent. I realized how tense the air was, so I changed the subject. "I prefer shirts that I can hide my wings in, by the way."

"I can understand that. But how long are you planning on running around barefoot?" Garcia asked me.

I looked at my feet and groaned. "Do I have to wear shoes?"


	5. Chapter 5

Once I had been outfitted with a new look, Agent Jareu led me back to their working area. I continued to shadow Garcia, since she was always doing something or another on her computer. She was almost always playing some game online, which she told me were MMORPGs, short for massive multiplayer online role-playing games.

They had a couple days break before another case broke out, complete with bloody knives left at the scene with no fingerprints. The victims had their throats slashed open, after they were subjected to many volts of electricity coursing through their bodies.

I knew it was Sofia's work. I knew she was created to do this. I knew I had to act soon ... but I couldn't. My mind was saying yes, but my heart was screaming no. How could I go and betray these people who treated me so well? Better than the scientists?

"Are you all right, Ray?"

I jumped slightly as Reid addressed me. "Hm? Yeah, I'm fine." I mumbled. If I betrayed them, I could be free from the labs, from _him_, but what if I didn't? What if ...

"We should have left her with Garcia. After all, she doesn't seem to be too comfortable around the scenes or anything else we go."

Reid was talking to Hotchner, while they were giving me worried glances. I pretended not to notice them and shifted uncomfortably. I wanted to kick off these shoes, at the very least. Go for a flight. Or even better, confront Sofia and ... what? Unleash another murderer created by _him_? Watch these innocent agents have their lives taken away one by one? I refused to kill these people. They had family. Friends. They were their own little family, in a way. How could anyone want to destroy this unit? They were doing the right thing, bringing killers to justice.

"Ray?" Hotchner's voice interrupted my thoughts.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. "Sorry. I guess I spaced out there." I forced a small smile. "What is it, boss? Something you need me for? Or am I completely useless that I'm going to be stuck in a foster home for a while?"

"Neither of those things. Ray, can you go help Garcia find the unsub? I think you might be able to help her. You could at least give her someone to talk to." Hotchner gave me a stern look.

"Fine, fine. I know when I'm not needed. I'll go help her." I turned and walked away. The second I was out of sight from anyone, I took off my shoes and wandered around. I didn't want to go back to someplace I wasn't needed.

* * *

The next morning, the BAU team was going over the details of the recent string of murders. They had no leads, no clues, and the victimology was completely random. It would take a miracle to catch whoever was doing this.

"Ray, do you have any insight as to what this could be?"Hotch asked.

"Sir, she hasn't gotten here yet." Garcia pointed out. "And she wasn't home when I woke up."

That got everyone's attention. The mutant, the new eyes, was missing? What if she was being taken back to the labs?

"Are you sure she wasn't there?" Hotchner asked.

"Positive, sir."

"I want the city combed to any sign of her. Garcia, check your house again. Let us know if anything is off."

A few hours and a combed city later, the team regrouped. Nobody had found any evidence of the missing teenager. It was as if she had never existed in the first place.

As they were about to alert the authorities, a familiar figure walked in with a yawn. "Mornin' ..."

"It's morning somewhere else in the world, probably Japan, but it's late afternoon here." Reid looked at the clock pointedly.

A messy-haired Ray turned to the clock. "Oh ... Sorry ..." She rubbed her eyes, wiping away the tears from her constant yawning. "I guess I wore myself out last night ... flying and all ..."

"You forgot to leave a note, at the very least." Hotch reprimanded her. "We were concerned about your welfare."

"Right, right. The boring cases, the murderers, the bloody scenes ... Love it." Ray yawned again, adding a hint of sarcasm at the end of her sentence. "I'm sure I'm not really needed here."

"Since when did you get so moody?" Reid asked.

"Doesn't matter, does it?" Ray pulled her ponytail taught, sliding the band up to her skull. "I'll be outside, maybe."

The group watched silently as she left. She wasn't acting normal, that was for certain.

"I think we should keep an eye on her, pay more attention to her if-when this case is closed." JJ watched the mutant dash up the stairs to the roof.

"Did you ever get her leg looked at, Hotch?" Morgan asked.

"The second I mentioned a hospital, she tensed up and got a look of utmost fear." Hotch turned to face Morgan. "Judging from her dash up the stairs, I'd say she's recovered."

* * *

I sat on the roof, my legs dangling off the side. I had ditched the shoes the second I got on the roof. The wind around here was unpredictable, due to the buildings messing around with the currents.

My wings were itching to go for another flight, but the meeting with _him_ had been too much. He demanded that I kill the team ... or else he'd kill me for being such a failure. Even remembering the scene made me start trembling. If only I could get away, to ...

An idea formed in my head. I would be able to do this.

I jumped off the building, hoping nobody would see me. I rolled as I landed, taking the momentum away, then dashed to Garcia's apartment. I picked the lock and went in.

_Garcia and the Team:_

_Let me let you know this: I'm sorry. I didn't want to leave you, but I had to._

_There's someone out there, a scientist, who wants you and your team dead. He told me that if I killed everyone, then he'd let me finally be free. I wouldn't have to be a test subject. I could live like Ray Fletcher should have._

_The killer you're looking for is a woman named Sofia. She was created by the lead scientist, too. But she was designed to be a killer. You'll know her when you see her. She has jet black hair and eyes like gold._

_I was created with the ability to feel the souls inside living things. Plants, animals, mutants, and even humans. I could easily take them away, sever the connection to the body they inhabit. Once they found that out, they had to keep me sedated. I was living in a haze until they let me go out to kill you._

___But when I met the team, I couldn't bring myself to do it. How could I kill the people who bring justice to cold-hearted killers like the ones I grew up around? I had to leave. For your sake._

_Once again, I'm sorry. I was cursed with this ability. I'm a monster, worse than the ones you kill._

_Ray_

I stuck it where anybody could find it easily. I turned and walked away, making sure to lock the door behind me. I spread my wings and took flight, noticing how many feathers I had left behind from my stress. Seven. One for each of them. One for each life I couldn't take.

I was nothing but a coward, but at least I could finally die. I had met people who were good. People who showed me that there was some good in the world. Maybe ... just maybe ... I could face _him_ and end his life, too.


	6. Chapter 6

The team had been silent for a long few minutes. Since they had discovered Ray's note, it had been like this.

A little 'bing!' interrupted the silence, and all eyes turned to Garcia. She looked over and noticed a message had popped up.

_If you want to see 'Ray' again, be at the dock at midnight._

There was no signature, nothing to tell them who sent it. Garcia tried to track it, but it seems it had been from her own system.

"Are we really going to follow those instructions?" JJ asked.

Hotch looked conflicted. "The director said that we were getting too attached to her. I believe that's true."

"We're not going to go after her then, are we." Prentiss said that as a statement, not a question.

"No, we are. She's just a victim, kidnapped by the people who have mistreated her. It's our job to bring the unsub, or unsubs, to justice." Hotch's eyes were cold.

* * *

As Midnight approached, I waited for _him_ to sedate me again. He told me that someone was coming, but he never told me who. But I had a good feeling that I knew what was coming. I had told them not to. I had hoped they wouldn't come.

They _had_ to prove me wrong, didn't they?

I grunted as the Erasers tied a rope around my waist, pinning my wings and arms to my torso. They were effective, I had to admit ... But I could still kick them ... I hoped.

They dragged me off the boat, which made me want to kiss the ground. I hated that thing. So rocky, so unsteady ... I felt like I would fall down.

"Almost midnight. They'd better show up." _His_ voice was a growl, and he glanced at this watch.

I started to hope they weren't coming. Maybe, just maybe ...

Then I saw the black cars in the distance.

The atmosphere instantly became tense as the team came out.

"Hoyt Thacker?" Agent Hotchner asked.

_He_ stepped forward, the white labcoat still making me freak out. I could sense the needles he had stashed, hidden behind the cloth. "And you are Aaron Hotchner, isn't that right?" His lips twisted into a grin only a crazy scientist could manage. "It's such a shame 26 couldn't kill you."

"And the attacks you've ordered your hybrids to do, was she 'programmed' to kill us?" Hotch asked.

"She was nothing but a mistake." _He_ sighed, shrugging. "I doubted she'd survive this long, but I thought I'd at least make her feel useful."

"Liar." I felt the claws of an Eraser pierce my leg, where the bullet had gone through. I knew JJ had noticed the flash of pain in my otherwise detatched eyes. She whispered something to Hotch.

"You didn't do much to cover up your tracks. Why?" Hotch asked.

_He_ chuckled. The last thing I heard before an Eraser knocked me out.

* * *

Hoyt continued after he chuckled. "Because I know as well as you do that nobody will survive this." He cackled maniacally, abruptly cut off as a gunshot rang through the air.

That set the wolf-hybrids into some form of attack. They rushed the team with startling speed, their claws glinting in the moonlight.

While they were occupied with the hybrids, Sofia came out from the shadows, a needle glinting in her hand. Once she injected the liquid into the bird-mutant, she merely tossed the needle into the ocean and waited for the mutant to wake.

It didn't take long for 26 to wake up, which made Sofia smile faintly. "You're awake."

"JJ ...?" the mutant rasped. "But ... the others ..."

"Hurry ... Penelope ha-"

'Sofia' crumpled to the ground, an evil grin on her face.

The hybrids had suddenly collapsed, and Hotch's gun was still aimed at the spot where Sofia had been.

Ray slowly got up from the crumpled and discarded position, her eyes widening with horror. Her lips parted, but no sound came out.

"You." She stood up, her wings slowly unfurling. "How dare you." She turned to the agents, pure hatred and rage in her eyes.

Her shriek rang through the night air, making the agents flinch at the shrill screech.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

She rushed toward the agents, aiming for Hotch. Her face was distorted with rage, pain, and the lust to kill. Hotch tried his best to fend her off, until another gunshot rang through the air.

She gasped in pain, taking to the sky. Her eyes had a moment of recognition, but they went back to their rage-filled state.

"I hope she'll forgive us for this." Morgan raised and shot his gun. He clipped her wing, sending her into the ocean.

* * *

I felt my body settle on the bottom of the ocean, the rocks slowly digging into my flesh.

The wounds stung like all get out. The salt water made the bullet wounds throb.

I had an idea that someone had slipped something into my system. It was when JJ told me to warn Penelope. Nobody on the team, on a case, called anybody by their first names. So this had to be their new weapon, some drug that makes you see the lab people and experiments as friends and friends as lab people and experiments.

I had no idea how long I had been underwater. My lungs weren't burning, but I couldn't see any big bubbles ... What was going on? Was I also ... part fish? I slowly swam back to the surface, barely even gasping for air. I could hear frantic shouting, and the thumping of a helicopter. I slowly worked over to the pier, hauling myself up. "Are you looking for someone?" I asked, failing miserably at disguising my voice.

Six pairs of eyes settled on me. I slowly let out a breath and stepped stood on the pier. "Sorry, just thinking some things through. How long was I underwater?" I tried not to grin, but I couldn't stop a small smile from my face.

"About half an hour." Hotch's voice was almost the same, but I could hear a hint of relief.

"Oh, a record ... I've never known I could breathe underwater. Maybe I'm also part fish somewhere." I sighed, suddenly noticing how cold the night air was on my wet clothes and skin.

"Come on, let's get you dried off." JJ put an arm around my shoulders, leading me away.

I planted my feet, pushing against JJ with my weight and strength. "No. Are they all dead?" I asked.

"Yes. However, there's still a few people out there. I'll fill you in on the details when you're all dried off and not about to catch hypothermia." JJ led me into one of the vehicles.

~*Timeskip*~

"So, you're saying you're looking for a Jeb Batchelder who's the closest thing you have to the head honcho of the experiments they run on innocent children and animals that hate the scientists?" I think that's the longest sentence I'd ever said.

"Correct. I want you to join Agent Walker's force for the time being." Hotch handed me a little file. The tab said Anne Walker, so I opened it up. The face of a woman stared back at me, along with information on her. "And there's a possibility you could run into one of Hoyt's lackeys."

I grinned; it sounded like my kind of thing. "So, I'm your undercover agent, is that right?" I asked.

"Sir, she interviewed five people at the Navel Health Clinic, and there's a sixth, a Nick Ride, who's being treated. The problem is, there's nothing about him but the fact that he's in the hospital.

"Well, we did need to get Ray's wounds looked at ..." Hotch nodded.

"No." I crossed my arms, trying to ignore my throbbing wing. "There is no way in Hell that I'd willingly go into a hospital."

Morgan gave me a stern look. "Listen. We're trying out best to help you, but we can't help you heal with wounds that are still bleeding."

I shot him a glare right back. "And I'm saying I'd rather die than go back to a place full of knives and needles and tubes." Yeah, my leg was still hurting, as was my side where I was shot down by the Erasers.

"Did you know that an wound left untreated can get thousands of bacteria that can infect and possibly kill?" Reid spouted the fact like it should change my mind.

"I said no. And I mean. N. O." I turned my back to them, like a little kid.

"You know, I think she's mature in a lot of ways, but she's still immature with arguing."

"I heard that!" I snapped. "I- Put me down!"

Morgan had picked me up. "Sorry, sweet pea, but you're going to get those wounds treated, whether we have to drag you the two blocks or not."

I pushed against him with all my might. "No!" I cried. "You insane bastard! I'd rather die than get poked with a needle or get a tube shoved into my arm or have tests run on! I'm not a science experiment!"

"You were, weren't you?" Reid asked as we stepped outside.

I gave him a glare that made the scientists cringe in fear. One of pure undiluted hatred. Reid seemed unfazed, which made me even more angry.

~*An Hour Later*~

"The good news is that there were no fractures or anything of the sort. Just some muscle damage that should take a few weeks to heal, with physical therapy, of course."

I gave the doctor on duty a glare. "Can I go now?" I grumbled.

"Not yet. Are you related to six kids, ranging from-"

"Why can't I go? I'm crawling up the walls!" I whined. "At least let me talk to my guardians!"

He sighed. "Fine. But only one. I'll have a nurse get them."

I sighed, replying with the one name that popped into my head at first. "Hotchner."

Before two minutes passed, Hotch came into the exam room. "Is everything all right?" he asked first.

"Besides the fact that I'm about to make a beeline for the nearest exit out of this hellhole, I'm actually great." I gestured to the stitches on my wing. "They sewed me up, quite literally."

The doctor on duty cleared his throat. "I'd like to know more about her, since she's the second avain hybrid I've treated today."

Hotch ignored the doctor and handed me something in an envelope. I gave him a curious look, and he nodded. I slowly opened it and grinned. "Thanks, sir." Without pulling the item in the envelope out, I shifted uncomfortably. The smells were enough to drive anyone crazy. "Can I go now? Outside, that is." I gave the doctor my pleading look.

He sighed. "Fine. Just don't get hurt again, if you don't like this place."

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Trouble usually finds me first, and I normally don't go looking for it." I exited the room as fast as humanly possible. Once in the waiting room, I longed to bolt out of here, get away from this horrible place. But one look from Morgan and I knew I had no choice. Even with my strength, he'd probably just drag me to where I was supposed to go.

With trembling hands, I nodded. "Where am I going?" I asked.

"Down the hallway to the left, then a right. It should be on the left." Morgan stood up, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Just be careful, all right? Use what Hotch gave you to contact any of us if you get in trouble."

"I'll show you the way." Reid offered.

I shook my head. "I'll be fine. If I happen to stumble across something-or someone- suspicious, I'll let you know." I gave them a smile and walked down the hallways they told me. It didn't take me long to get to the door, but I still hesitated. What if this was just a trap? Well, I could always run down the hallway again ... or something.

I opened the door, stepping into the room.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading Cracking the Mutant Mind! Sadly, this is probably the end of Cracking the Mutant mind. I will continue this as a normal fic, not an xover, probably under the title 'Undercover Mutant' or something like that. I'll update once I've put out the first chapter!

~MLA


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